Saturday Night Life (2006) 

** 1/2 (out of 4) 

A depressed, struggling single mother takes her three children out for the night. That's pretty much the only "plot" you need to know about this film because if you were to know anything else several small bits would be ruined. I can't say I had ever heard of this film before I came across it on one of those Showtime stations but it turned out to be quite entertaining. At just 12-minutes the film moves along at a nice pace but what I was impressed with most is how writer/director Ava DuVernay managed to make the thing so touching. There were several moments in the film where I wasn't really sure where the movie was going. There's an admirer that keeps walking around and there's another sequence where a stranger walks up to the mother just to tell her how great of a job she's doing. In today's time I found it quite hard to believe that a stranger would just walk up to someone like this but the scene works extremely well as does the ending. Melissa De Sousa and James Black are both very good in their roles even with the limited dialogue. I think a few things could have improved the film including leaving the song off the picture as this really adds nothing and instead it doesn't allow us to connect with the characters until after it's over. It's also rather refreshing to see a story aimed at black audiences that isn't full of negative stereotypes. Not perfect but certainly well-made and worth watching.

The drama genre is a broad category that features stories portraying human experiences, emotions, conflicts, and relationships in a realistic and emotionally impactful way. Dramas delve into the complexities of human life, often exploring themes of love, loss, morality, societal issues, personal growth, with the aim to evoke an emotional response from the audience by presenting relatable and thought-provoking stories.

Mahershala Ali and Alex R. Hibbert in Moonlight (2016)

The short form refers to creative works characterized by their brevity and concise storytelling. Unlike full-length feature films, short films have a running time of less than 45 minutes, while TV shorts have a running time of less than 22 minutes.

Benedict Cumberbatch in The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar (2023)

The film captures an uplifting night in the life of a desperate single mother.

The Biggest Movies and TV Coming in September

See which big screen releases you can watch from the comfort of your couch.

Theatrical Releases Coming to Streaming

See who dazzled on the red carpet and took home gold at the 78th Primetime Creative Emmy Awards.

Primetime Creative Arts Emmys: Photos We Love

Kasi Lemmons and Ava DuVernay in One Perfect Shot (2022)

Jaden Michael and Colin Kaepernick in Colin in Black & White (2021)

Saturday Night Life

Photos

Top Cast3

User reviews1

More like this

Related interests

Storyline

Did you know

Top picks

FAQ1

Details

Box office

Tech specs

Contribute to this page

More to explore

Recently viewed